Chicago: Tainted Gifts

Facebook
Twitter
Email
WhatsApp
Print

 

On New Year’s morning, 14 Chicago-area peacemakers returned “tainted gifts” to a downtown Body Shop retail outlet.   

The Body Shop proudly proclaims company values of “Community Trade, Human Rights, and Protection of the Planet,” yet its products contain palm oil supplied by Daabon Organics which forcibly displaced 123 families from their farmlands in Las Pavas, Colombia, one area where CPT works.

Gift boxes labeled “Product Tainted – Threats,” “…Corruption,” “…Eviction,” “…Environmental Damage,” etc., lined the sidewalk outside the store.

      The group sang adapted Christmas carols and a rewrite of “Pop goes the weasel” that summarized the situation and their call:

From farmland in Colombia,

the guns chased off the people

Daabon got title to the land –

“Stop!” say the people.

A penny for the drug dealer’s clan,

a penny for the gov’nor,

Palm oil for the Body Shop –

“Stop!” say the people.    

      CPT Reservist Duane Ediger and delegate Bob Palmer had visited the displaced farmers during a CPT delegation in October.  Police turned the two away when they attempted to return the tainted gifts and open a conversation with shop workers.

CHICAGO:
TAINTED GIFTS
On New Year’s morning, 14 Chicago-area peacemakers returned “tainted gifts” to a downtown Body Shop retail outlet.   
The Body Shop proudly proclaims company values of “Community Trade, Human Rights, and Protection of the Planet,” yet its products contain palm oil supplied by Daabon Organics which forcibly displaced 123 families from their farmlands in Las Pavas, Colombia, one area where CPT works.
Gift boxes labeled “Product Tainted – Threats,” “…Corruption,” “…Eviction,” “…Environmental Damage,” etc., lined the sidewalk outside the store.
      The group sang adapted Christmas carols and a rewrite of “Pop goes the weasel” that summarized the situation and their call:
From farmland in Colombia,
the guns chased off the people
Daabon got title to the land –
“Stop!” say the people.
A penny for the drug dealer’s clan,
a penny for the gov’nor,
Palm oil for the Body Shop –
“Stop!” say the people.    
      CPT Reservist Duane Ediger and delegate Bob Palmer had visited the displaced farmers during a CPT delegation in October.  Police turned the two away when they attempted to return the tainted gifts and open a conversation with shop workers.

Subscribe to the Friday Bulletin

Get Hannah’s thoughts and the entire bulletin every Friday in your inbox, and don’t miss out on news from the teams, a list of what we’re reading and information on ways to take action.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Read More Stories

A group of people a protest holding crosses and a banner that reads CPT

Peace teams

‘I will not kill, but I will prevent others from killing.’

a group of women walk in a line in a field

On-the-ground experiment in nonviolence

The work of international solidarity peacemaking is sometimes inaccessible. How does one contribute to the discourse and action for nonviolent change in a country that

Skip to content